Meet the Cast: PONTYPOOL

When producing a zombie play, it is of utmost importance to have an adventurous, capable, hardworking, fearless cast. Luckily, we have that. These actors have spent the last several weeks memorizing text, perfecting precise violence choreography, growing accustomed to gory special effects makeup, building a cohesive and believable ensemble, and generally giving into the world of KPPL Radio in Pontypool, Oregon. Meet the intrepid cast giving life (and possibly death, because, you know, zombie play) to the characters of Pontypool.

Christy Bigelow (Sydney Briar/Co-Producer) is thrilled to be back at CoHo Productions, after appearing in The Yellow Wallpaper (Season 20). Other Portland credits include 4.48 Psychosis, Three Days of Rain, Precious Little, and Attempts on Her Life (defunkt theatre); Antigone, Orestes, and Peace (Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon); Three Sisters and Twelfth Night (NW Classical); pool no water and The Ruby Sunrise (Theatre Vertigo); Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant (Artists Repertory Theater); The Revenants (The Reformers); as well as shows with Action/Adventure, Lakewood Theater, and Superego Sketch Comedy. A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy’s Studio program in NYC, Christy can be seen in multiple episodes of Portlandia among her other on-camera credits. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA.

Jimmy Garcia (Dr. Mendez) studied at Southern Oregon University, performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and is now happy to be back in Portland where he began his acting career years ago on the stages of Milagro Theatre, Stark Raving Theater and Portland Center Stage. In Southern Oregon, he performed a variety of roles working with such esteemed directors as Bill Rauch, Libby Appel, and Pat Patton. He has most recently performed in Milagro’s World Premiere Òye Oya, Artists Repertory Theatre’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, An Octoroon and A Civil War Christmas, and Profile Theatre’s Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue, 26 Miles, and The Happiest Song Plays Last.

Paige McKinney (Laurel Ann Drummond) has performed in Portland often, including Slipping, The Pride, HIR and On the Edge (Defunkt Theatre); A Maze (Theatre Vertigo); Our New Girl (Corrib Theatre); TeatroSOLO (Boom Arts); [or, the whale], Drowned Horse Tavern, Song of the Dodo, and R3 (PETE); and No Man’s Land (Action/Adventure Theatre). Paige is an AmSAT-Certified Alexander Technique teacher and audio book narrator.

Pat Moran (Ken Loney/Co-Producer) is a Portland-based actor, director, playwright, teaching artist, and producer. He is an Artistic Company Member of Action/Adventure Theatre and the Education Director at Shaking The Tree Theatre. He has worked with many theatre companies including Cal Shakes, Action/Adventure, Hand2Mouth, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Milagro Theatre, Theatre Vertigo, Northwest Children’s Theatre, and more.

Todd Van Voris (Grant Mazzy) has recently appeared in such productions as Inherit The Wind at Lakewood; Title and Deed at Imago; Sense and Sensibility at Clackamas Rep; The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at Triangle Productions; A Christmas Carol with Portland Playhouse; Difficulty of Crossing a Field with Portland Opera;Thom Pain with Crave Theatre; and The New Electric Ballroom with Third Rail. Over the past 17 years, he has worked with Artists Rep, Portland Center Stage, Profile Theatre, Theatre Vertigo, and many more. Todd studied at NYU and trained at Playwrights Horizons in NYC.